The Tale of Tessa's Trials
by ChaosGhost
Summary: Follow a diverse group of Mercenaries as they survive and prosper in the world of BattleTech, one contract at a time.  Updates as game unfolds in real life and one of us can be bothered to write it up
1. Prologue

_This story is an account of a band of mercenaries as they travel the stars in search of glory, salvage, and C-bills. It is entirely fictional, and is basically fluff for a campaign me and my friends play over the Internet by way of Megamek. That program is awesome, and if you want to try and play Classic Battletech, it's a free download. So is Mechwarrior 4:Mercenaries, for that matter._

Disclaimer: I don't own Battletech, Megamek, or anything related to them. I don't even own a figurine of my own. :(

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><p>Prologue: Two men meet in a bar…<p>

Cly "Sly" Gos sipped into his mug of indescribable drink in a third-rate bar in a fifth-rate world, going by the idle chit-chat going around him he knew things aren't going so well for the people here. He stepped out of the dropship arriving with nothing but a change of clothes and his personal _Adder_ ("_Puma_! You're in Inner Sphere territory now."). A freelance mercenary invited by an old acquaintance he never met, such is the life of a freelancer. A rough hand taps him on the shoulder, and he glances over to see his benefactor smiling widely at him. He was fairly old, hints of grey hair on him, but the eyes were still sharp- still hungry.

"Sly! Glad you decided to join up." The man smiled, "I promise your time won't be wasted."

"You're already wasting it, stranger." Sly scowled. The man immediately dropped the cheerful façade.

"You see how things are around here. Rebels have overrun half the world already; loyal troops are hard-pressed to stem the tide. I was hired to change the flow, and you're helping me." Sly's eyes widened slightly, his benefactor had a benefactor it seemed. "A man called Mardukas."

"Never heard of the guy," Sly remarked "In fact, I've never heard of this planet."

"A man with the moniker 'Sly' doesn't make sure the details of the job?" The man mock gasped "You're in Sevren, I'm Argus MacGuyver, and we're headed for the city of Melren. Now"

Sly finished his drink, stood up, and headed for the door. No more words needed to be said. Argus held Sly's mug to his nose and sniffed cautiously.

"Water," he laughed. "I should have known."

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><p>Author's Note: Not a very good first effort, I know. I'm not that good at writing fiction, and I'm not that good at BattleTech. If you can help me in any way, like pointing out a mistake I made or anything, feel free to leave a note.<p> 


	2. The First Headache

Disclaimer: Same as last chapter, I suppose.

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><p>Chapter One: The first headache<p>

"Sly here, all systems nominal and I am ready and waiting." The _Puma_ powered up nicely, his brain connected to it giving the 35-ton machine the sense of balance needed to handle the niceties of walking and running. He looked at the Mech next to him, and saw Argus' pride and joy: A _Hatchetman_. He dug up the information instilled in him years before, drilled into him by the meanest son-of-a-bitch instructor you'll ever meet. 45 tons, equipped with a mean looking axe that can possibly cleave a mech's arm off. The _Hatchetman_ is configured for close up, in-your-face combat and that kind of Mech is what you want in a mission such as this.

"This" being a rapid response deployment to the besieged city of Melren, Argus did a quick briefing en route to their Mechs. It would seem that the Loyalist forces were all but wiped out, with a few stragglers remaining. Luckily, the last coherent message was that the rebels are well on the way of achieving a pyrrhic victory at best. Sly and Argus' mission is to make sure the  
>Rebel sacrifices be in vain.<p>

"It's a fairly generic city," Argus' voiced crackled over the comms "absolutely nothing remarkable to it, except that the rebels want it, and we don't want them to get it."

"Anyone friendly left?"

"One unit, we have a company command vehicle hiding among the rubble. Commander's name is Tessa Testarossa, fairly young chick. Too young to command, I think, but you know how it is. Connections lead to a good position- good ol' Nepotism at work."

"Is she hot?"

"She just turned 17!" Argus exclaimed, "You weren't like this in the bar."

"I'm in my _Puma._" Sly grinned, expecting Argus to understand the meaning behind the words.

"Whatever." Apparently he didn't. "City's coming up, enemy is directly to our south and-"

"Hello, Mechwarriors!"

"What the f-"Sly stopped his curse short, "Identify!"

"Commander Tessa, you're my reinforcements? Excellent! There's a Badger transport a couple of blocks away and I'll appreciate it if you take it out for me."

Sly could just _see_ the wide smile that accompanied that cheerful tone, totally unbecoming of an officer in his opinion- but he was just the hired help anyway, let the military sort her out. The_ Hatchetman_ veered to the right to rendezvous with Tessa, but Sly kept moving forward, intending to gain a good position on the Badger.

"Just to make it official," Argus announced "_This is Battleaxe, ready op_."

"Welp, here's to a good working relationship guys" Sly remarked off-handedly.

"Same here" Tessa replied, taking a more serious tone that Sly found slightly reassuring.

"Sgt. Luisa "Ragnarok" Rangnekar, moving out." Said the commando sergeant hitching a ride with Sly's Puma, in a pleasantly surprising way, Argus had arranged for a squad of battle armored commandos to accompany their little jaunt through town. Sly saw them peel away and head for the nearest building; paying no mind to them he headed his own way forward.

Argus however, was running full speed across the intersections, aiming to either link up with Commander Tessa or find something to hack with his mean _Hatchetman_. Amazingly, the Badger turned up in front of him as he turned the corner, well within range of his hatchet. Yet before he can move his arm back to take a swing, a couple of Particle Projectiles went screaming past him, finding their mark on the badger- this in conjunction with an attack by Ragnarok's troops melted away the Badger's armor. This sudden onslaught however, causes Argus' attack to miss wildly off-target and he eats the Badger's complement of Short Ranged Missiles configured to fire in groups of four. Three find their mark: a hit to his right leg, left torso, and a lucky hit to the head that jolts him in the cockpit.

_**Weapons fire for Badger Tracked Transport B (****Rebels****)**_

_SRM 4 at Hatchetman HCT-6S (**Argus**); needs 5, rolls 4 : **misses**._

_SRM 4 at Hatchetman HCT-6S (**Argus**); needs 5, rolls 8 : - Direct Blow - 3 missile(s) hit (w/ +2 bonus)._

_Hatchetman HCT-6S (**Argus**) takes 2 damage to HD. 7 Armor remaining._

_Pilot of Hatchetman HCT-6S (**Argus**) "Argus MacGuyver" takes 1 damage._

_Pilot of Hatchetman HCT-6S (**Argus**) "Argus MacGuyver" needs a -2 to stay conscious. Rolls 7 : successful!_

_Hatchetman HCT-6S (**Argus**) takes 2 damage to RL. 19 Armor remaining._

_Hatchetman HCT-6S (**Argus**) takes 2 damage to LT. 14 Armor remaining.  
><em>

"_Hatchetman"_, Sly called "you missed hitting a _stationary vehicle_?" It wasn't really funny, considering that it's a major concern when the one lance mate you have makes a poor initial showing. Argus was about to send his retort when Tessa abruptly cut in:

"I only have anti-infantry munitions," she called out simply, "please take care of that Marshal for me."

_ Marshal?_ Both Mechwarriors thought, that was unwelcome news. A _Marshal_ was larger than either of their BattleMechs weighing at 55 tons, designed to operate alone and able to fire at any range, it was a generalist approach to design as opposed to his _Puma's_ long-range focus and the _Hatchetman's_ close range one.

"Company, Sly here" he replied "try not to let that Mech see you."

"Thank you" Tessa's voice called back, as if in admonishment "but as long as I keep my distance, ECM will keep me hidden."

Argus grinned at the subtle insinuation that Sly did not know how Electronic Countermeasures work, and for all he knew Sly really didn't know how it worked, the fool. Which reminded him: "The damned Badger popped out, _and you nearly hit me_."

"Fine, have fun with it."

The _Puma_ suddenly turned and ran out of sight of the _Hatchetman _and the _Badger_. Turning in the next intersection, he saw his quarry a long way away and facing in the direction of the _Badger_. The _Marshal_ was in sight!

"Hello, friend"

Twin PPCs spat out their balls of lightning.

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><p>Author's Note:<p>

I figured the odd combat log every now and then would give you an idea on how the game is played. Should I have more? Less? None at all?

I'll continue finishing this battle, and I'll have another for you as soon as me and my friends get around to playing the next mission. If you've any idea how I can improve my writing, I'll be grateful if you'd tell me.

Yes, I know a Puma seems overkill for a first mission, but I'm _very_ fond of that particular Mech, and I can't help it. To be fair, I won't stop using it (as long as it doesn't get wrecked) even as the rest of the gang upgrades to heavies and assaults. If you like, you can suggest more "normal" Mechs for a new light/medium mercenary lance to use. We'll get around to expanding this little campaign of ours, so we'll have pilots to put in your suggestions.


End file.
